The present invention relates to beverage brewing apparatuses and more particularly to beverage brewing apparatuses which quickly and efficiently brew a desired quantity of beverage.
A variety of beverage brewing apparatuses are available which incorporate a number of beverage brewing operation in a single apparatus. An example of such a beverage brewing apparatus can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,925 to Bunn et al. The Bunn et al. reference shows a beverage brewing apparatus which brews a desired quantity of beverage by way of an infusion type brewing process. In Bunn et al. a beverage brewing substance is placed in a brew chamber and heated water is introduced into the brew chamber to infuse the substance. A brewed beverage is drained through a reusable filter material and dispensed into an appropriate container. The Bunn et al. apparatus provides a rather quick and efficient high-quality brewed beverage with a high degree of automation and minimum human interaction. The device as shown in Bunn et al., however, uses gravity flow brewing principles to brew the desired beverage from the brewing substance.
It has been found to be desirable to further accelerate the beverage brewing process to produce a desired quantity of brewed beverage within a shorter period of time. It is also desirable to maintain the degree of automation and, especially, maintain a high quality and consistency of flavor of the brewed beverage produced by such a system. Additionally, it would be desirable to brew a beverage and dispose of the spent brewing substance in a clean and efficient manner.
While it has been stated that it would be desirable to quickly produce a brewed beverage, this is not to say that a beverage brewing system meeting these desirable conditions would utilize espresso brewing principles. Espresso brewing principles are substantially different than drip or gravity brewing principles as used in Bunn et al. Espresso principles produce a brewed beverage by infusing a quantity of brewing substance in a pressure chamber with pressurized water. For example, when brewing drip coffee, a gravity system will utilize approximately two tablespoons of ground coffee for each six ounces of water. Espresso brewing utilizes approximately two-thirds of the ground coffee (having a substantially finer particulate size) and infuses the ground coffee with pressurized water to produce approximately one to two ounces of espresso brew.
The espresso principles have been used to quickly produce a desired quantity of coffee at a desired strength for consumption either as an espresso drink or to be diluted with hot water to produce a beverage similar to a gravity or drip brewed beverage. A problem arises with the espresso techniques and automation in that it can be difficult to remove the spent coffee grounds from the brewing chamber.
The following list is provided by way of background to show a variety of beverage brewing devices.
______________________________________ Patent No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,993,315 Huber et al. 02/19/1991 4,767,632 Meier 08/30/1988 4,703,686 Siegfried 11/03/1987 4,612,850 Kanazashi et al. 09/23/1986 4,110,221 Moser 08/29/1978 3,683,790 Black et al. 08/15/1972 3,662,675 Ollander 05/16/1972 3,288,049 Schmid et al. 11/29/1966 2,529,395 Humel 11/07/1950 ______________________________________